HARTFORD -- The state House of Representatives on Monday night unanimously approved a resolution declaring Connecticut as home to the first powered flight by Gustave Whitehead, whose former home in Fairfield was demolished last week.

The joint resolution was introduced around 8:30 p.m. in honor of 12-term Rep. Lawrence G. Miller, R-Stratford, who has missed recent weeks of legislative business due to illness.

"We're all very hopeful for his good health and speedy recovery and that he joins us as soon as possible," said House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk. Speaking for other legislative leaders, Cafero offered the bill on Miller's behalf.

"Larry Miller is a very proud resident of the state of Connecticut, and I know it galled him that the Wright brothers were always touted as the first in flight," Cafero said. "In fact, the state of North Carolina has that saying emblazoned on their license plates. And Larry Miller, with a lot of research and a lot of determination, I believe, has proved that the Wright brothers were the second in flight and that in fact Gustave Whitehead, of Connecticut, was the first in flight."

Whitehead's half-mile flight, 50 feet off the ground, on Aug. 1, 1901, in Bridgeport was more than two years before the more-famous Wright flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

The issue came to world prominence last year when Jane's Aircraft, an important trade magazine of the aerospace industry, announced that Whitehead's controlled powered flights did indeed precede the brothers from Dayton, Ohio.

Whitehead lived in Bridgeport and Fairfield until his death in 1927. Last week, after a brief local battle to save his Fairfield home, the bungalow was demolished.

Last year, the General Assembly, also in commemoration of Whitehead, asked the governor to declare one day a year Powered Flight Day in the state.